American Reunion (2012)

American Reunion Synopsis

In the comedy American Reunion, all the American Pie characters we met a little more than a decade ago return to East Great Falls for their high-school reunion. In one long-overdue weekend, they will discover what has changed, who hasn’t and that time and distance can’t break the bonds of friendship.

It was summer 1999 when four small-town Michigan boys began a quest to lose their virginity. In the years that have passed, Jim and Michelle married while Kevin and Vicky said goodbye. Oz and Heather grew apart, but Finch still longs for Stifler’s mom. Now these lifelong friends have come home as adults to reminisce about—and get inspired by—the hormonal teens who launched a comedy legend.

There was plenty to cheer in 2012, but there was also plenty to jeer. Remember the return of Jason Biggs for American Reunion? Or how about the double dose of Tyler Perry between Madea's Witness Protection and the dud thriller Alex Cross? The vid below lets them speak for themselves with succinct and brutal reviews.

I might skip this one in favor of waiting it out for a full series set. That is, as long as that full series set is precluding the ridiculous and sometimes sad American Pie Presents straight-to-DVD fodder that somehow Eugene Levy still got sucked into. American Reunion may not have been great, but it was certainly a step in the right direction for the franchise.

Hayden Schlossberg and Jon Hurwitz aren't embarrassed to admit that they love franchises. That might not be much of a surprise, given that their oddball script Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle turned into one of the most successful and consistently funny comedy franchises in recent years

For a third weekend in a row Hunger Games dominated the box office and at the same time cruised past the $300 million mark in domestic sales. While the movie's continued success isn't shocking, it was something of a surprise to see it do so well against the new competition in theaters.

Jason Biggs know you will always remember him as the American Pie guy. He's been the American Pie guy for so long that he's gone from thinking he needed to get away from it, after the first movie became such a huge hit, back to embracing it in American Reunion

Is the year's Most Likely to Succeed winner still making great movies? Is Most Popular kid still as beloved? It's been a long time and a lot has happened in the meantime, so let's see where our favorites from the past stand today, looking at their 1999 Senior Superlatives and where they are now

This week on Operation Kino we're totally stuck in adolescence, flashing back to the 90s to review American Reunion. From there we have a Segment 3 that's a preview of our occasional spinoff Op Kino Indie, in which Da7e talks to independent filmmaker Brea Grant about her movie

I was 15 years old when the original American Pie came out, the exact age to be properly intrigued by an R-rated comedy about high schoolers, and as much as I thought I was too good for the raunchiest at the time, I remember Stifler and Jim and Michelle the band geek as well as if they were my own classmates

Fairly slow week this time around with nothing much going on except a high school reunion no one really wants to see. In fact, in the spirit of Katniss and company, I kind of wish we could watch the dudes and dudettes from American Pie battle it out in a Hunger Games-style fight to the death

Thomas Ian Nicholas admits he threw the script to American Pie in the trash when he first read it. And to think, had he remained disinterested and possibly even offended by the film, we might only associate him for his role as Henry Rowengartner in Rookie of the Year or Calvin Fuller in A Kid in King Arthur’s Court, back during the earlier years of the career.

Biggs continues to get credit for milking the main joke of the original Pie, though we have to assume the pastry punch line can be retired once Reunion comes and goes. The comedy opens everywhere on April 6, and should be good for a blast of nostalgia for those readers who came of age in the Aughts … back when Shannon Elizabeth was the Internet pin-up girl of choice...

It’s been nearly a decade since the American Pie franchise has had a proper sequel. Excluding the direct-to-video movies, the last American Pie sequel was back in 2003 with American Wedding. And now, more than ten years after the original changed the way we look at pie, Jim and his friends are getting back together for American Reunion.

A recent viewing of Goon nearly made me forget that Seann William Scott initially grabbed our attention by playing the especially douchy Steve Stifler in the American Pie movies. Goon’s Doug Glatt may be somewhat quick with a jab and hard-headed enough to take more than a few punches on the ice, but at his core, the character is as nice as a guy can get. Stifler? Not so much.

Even from the very first music cue, from Semisonic's "Closing Time," I'm sold-- and the fact that I graduated high school three years after these characters did probably has a lot to do with the fact that I'm excited about this movie. Though the conflicts in this movie seem ridiculous-- does anyone actually believe Jason Biggs's Jim is going to cheat on Alyson Hannigan after all they've been through?

How do you know it’s an international trailer? Because we’re treated to such taboo “gifts” as Jason Biggs’ bare ass, Seann William Scott taking a dump in a cooler, and some side boob from a random, attractive bimbo cast because of her curves. Pretty much the requisite checklist of an American Pie sequel.

It's interesting to see the posters next to each other, to see how the actors have changed over a decade, and to see the little changes they've worked in -- Michelle's (Alyson Hannigan) sex-aid flute has been replaced by a less scandalous baby bottle, for instance. I also can't help but wonder who ate the piece of pie with the hole in it. It was also nice of them to put the logo there so they had something to prop Tara Reid up against.

Why does Thomas Ian Nicholas seem like the only one who's been living a normal, respectable life for the last 10 years? Why is the character of Finch still acting older than his age, but now he's 30-going-on-60 instead of 18-going-on-30. Why does nobody talk to Tara Reid for this thing? So many mysteries, and yet none of this really seems like it's going to matter in American Reunion

For the first time we get a glimpse of what some of the characters are up to in their home lives, with Thomas Ian Nicholas's Kevin living in some McMansion with a wife who loves Real Housewives and Stifler, true to form, hitting on the women working with him in what appears to be a law office. But no matter what kind of legit lives they lead normally, when it comes time for reunion

It's been so long since American Pie came out that I think it's easy to mis-remember what the original movie was, assume it was just obnoxious horny guys talking about sex all the time while trying to get with improbably beautiful women and making fun of the geeky band camp chick. But the first movie especially was far wittier, and had a lot more heart, than most of the movies that tried to knock it off

The nice thing about the fourth American Pie film coming to theaters next spring is that it looks to be exactly like the original ones, just with older characters and issues more relatable to young married couples than high schoolers. Of course, that means images from the film aren't exactly going to be thrilling

Rarely do we read in-depth breakdowns of who made what on a particular film until the books have been closed, but a recent report published regarding Universal’s American Reunion shows that certain cast members received significantly smaller pieces of the pie (so to speak) for the opportunity to return for the latest sequel.

The first "teaser trailer" has come online for the fourth theatrical film in the franchise, American Reunion. I put the words "theatrical trailer" in quotes because it doesn't actually show any footage, just a slideshow featuring the film's stars, including Jason Biggs, Seann William Scott, Tara Reid, Alyson Hannigan, Mena Suvari, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nicholas and Eugene Levy.

This is the very first teaser so this poster reveals literally nothing about the film. It simply uses the iconic pie imagery that you’ll be sure to remember as soon as you see it. Undoubtedly the next time you and your friends start talking about the current state of film, one of you will say “hey, did you hear there’s a new American Pie movie coming out?”

Call me naive, especially given the hellish experience that was the third American Pie film, American Wedding, back in 2002, but I'm kind of happy to see all these guys back together again. Is it too much to hope that we're all older and wiser now and capable of making better comedy

Fair warning: nothing she has to say is especially surprising, though I think we'd all be disappointed if new directors Hayden Schlossberg and Jon Hurwitz (the Harold and Kumar alums) were trying to change things up too much. Here's the little bit Hannigan revealed

Dania Ramirez is the latest actress added to the mix. The Entourage and Heroes beauty will play the love interest of Eddie Kaye Thomas’s sophisticated lothario, Finch. Specifically, Ramirez’s character, Trisha, was ugly when the gang was in high school but has matured into a stunning beauty.

People who were 9 years old in 1980 are sucked in by all the ads for Super 8; I was 15 years old in 1999, and therefore I am genetically wired to respond to American Pie with deep nostalgia. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but it's a fact that's likely true for my entire generation

Biggs is apparently planning to keep us very much up to date on the set, tweeting three photos in just the first few days of production. The first one is my favorite, showing Biggs reunited with his movie dad Eugene Levy, but there's also a look at Jim's familiar plaid-wallpapered bedroom

A casting notice has gone up seeking an actress to fill the role of Kara, the “sweet girl next door you used to babysit, [only] now she's a senior in high school and a full blown hottie.” The studio would like an actress who can play 18-20, and who is, in their own words, "funny, smart and beautiful."

While American Reunion could very well change everything, I will never think of Chris Klein as Oz from American Pie ever again. After his groundbreaking, award-worthy performance in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li, how could I?

Of all the American Pie alumni, Alyson Hannigan is easily the most successful - though I suppose it's not that hard when your cohorts include Jason Biggs, Tara Reid, Chris Klein, Shannon Elizabeth, Thomas Ian Nicholas, etc. Part of the incredibly successful sitcom How I Met Your Mother and still swimming in geek praise after all of her years on Buffy the Vampire Slayer...